1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a printer for printing an image such as characters or graphic data on printing paper.
2. Description of the Related Art
Personal computers are becoming increasingly smaller, and portable mobile computers such as a PDA (Personal Data Acquisition/Personal Digital Assistance) have been put into practical use. A variety of types of such portable mobile computers are commercially available.
A printer is one of the main peripheral units of the personal computer. However, a printer, which is desirable as an accessory of the PDA, has not been provided. A small printer using roll paper is commercially available for apparatuses such as an electronic calculator. However, a printing area or print out size of such a printer is so small. Therefore, if such a printer is used for the PDA, the screen of the PDA is so large compared to the printing area that printed screen on the printing paper becomes too small to read. On the other hand, a printer using, for example, A4-size printing paper is too much larger than the PDA, and therefore, is not suitable for portable use.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a printer having substantially the same size as that of the PDA, achieving a large printing area, and being suitable for portable use. It is another object of the present invention to provide a printer which can be carried by an individual user together with a mobile computer and can be used as personal notes like a scratch pad.